Residents Warned Of Explosive Waste

October 10, 1985

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency warned residents of the Far Southeast Side Wednesday that the vacated U.S. Scrap Co. site might contain potentially explosive ether wastes. The agency is to begin digging into a railroad embankment next week at the 6-acre site near 122d Street and Cottage Grove Avenue in search of drums containing the wastes. Efforts to clean up the site began after an underground fire was found giving off cyanide fumes in August. EPA officials say the underground fire appears to have burned out. It apparently was ignited by a crew burning brush along a railroad track.